The tenacious Claire St. Amant of People Newspapers notes that NorthPark Center has instituted a curfew for those age 17 and younger. As of yesterday, anyone that age must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian after 6 p.m.
While you may recall a certain pseudo-scandal involving a 2011 viral email and what reports indicate was a group-beating of a Dallas Lutheran School student in January, spokesman Mark Annick said the updated policies were not in response to a specific incident, but reflect a growing trend nationwide.
“As much as its new here at NorthPark, it’s really not so new around the country,” Annick said.
The curfew will not apply to movie-goers, who will be allowed to go in and out of the AMC Theater located inside the mall until 11 p.m. Sunday – Thursday, and until 12:01 a.m. Friday and Saturday. There’s also a loophole for NorthPark employees under the age of 18.
The movie theater exception seems like a pretty big loophole. Â And everyone will need to pull up their drooping drawers too, according the newly written attire policy:
Visible undergarments are not permitted.
Question: Will exposed bra straps be tolerated any more than will sagging boxer shorts?
31 comments
Hmmmm…. gangs of roving “youths” administering random beatings? I’m sure they’re all HPISD students…
I can just hear the existential debates over what actually constitutes an undergarment!
And no photography. That’s a switch from NP’s previous policy. A year ago a spokesperson cheerfully told me that the mall has no problems with photography. “People take pictures here all the time.”
I think it would be wise for NorthPark to re-think this decision. I’ve actually never been to NorthPark – but I’m assuming it’s a lot like the mall where I grew up (Woodfield Mall) as far as being “upscale “. Teens make great consumers in malls like these, especially when mommy and daddy drop them off for a few hours with their credit card. Sure, some shoplift and cause trouble..but that’s what security is for.
I’d just look for another mall that I could drop my daughter and her friends off at.
You leave exposed bra straps alone.
Beccalyn,
As a frequent shopper at Northpark, I’m glad you’ll be looking for another mall to drop off your kids.
Best. Policy. Ever.
Jim
@BeccaLynn – not exactly like Woodfield Mall, no. Northpark seems to be missing the Claire’s Boutique, Radio Shack, and Men’s Warehouse.
@Jim – do you realize how much power teens have as consumers? And I’m not talking as a parent, but more as someone who studied and works in marketing/packaging/branding.
Applaud the idea of the policy, but the movie loophole seems to render it toothless.
Tit for tat @towski (though I do see NP lists Claire’s in their directory).
The teenagers that will be asked to leave by this policy are only going to save the entire mall money overall.
If e could only somehow get human beings to skip those awkward, noisy teen years. Leap straight from innocent childhood to the adult years with no intermediate stops.
I have a strong feeling NorthPark will enforce this selectively. Although I object to that in principle, I can’t exactly say I blame them.
BeccaLynn, you should find a mall like Prestonwood Town Center for your daughter and her friends.
From deadmalls.com:
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“What really killed the mall, though, were aimless teenagers. Starting in the mid-80′s, they would come to hang out on Friday and Saturday nights. Kids had always gone to Prestonwood to play video games at Tilt or to skate at the ice rink, but these kids were different. They were clearly not destined for college and they would just roam around in noisy packs, not shopping or buying anything. Once DART started to get well-organized, their numbers were reinforced by kids from other parts of Dallas who looked very tough and would walk very slowly and would spread out over the entire walking space so that it was intimidating to try to get around them. It’s hard to believe that kids would ride the bus for an hour to hang out at a mall and not even shop, but they did, and not jut on Friday and Saturday nights any more.”
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“Prestonwood was notorious as a hang out spot for teenagers for a wide variety of reasons:
The side street of Prestonwood road was a transfer hub for buses coming from all over North Dallas. Kids from nearby suburbs in Richardson, Plano, Carrollton, Farmers Branch and Addison could usually get to Prestonwood with only one bus ride. Kids from all over the city could get there with only one transfer. For this reason, it was a popular place to meet new people on a Friday night. It also attracted certain kinds of teens: typically punk rock mallrats in leather jackets and bright green hair.
All of the dumpsters were hidden from public view behind large walls with potted shrubbery, giving teens a lot of nearly-private spaces to cavort (i.e. do drugs, sell drugs, have sex, etc.). And cavort we did! I know of at least one child conceived in this way.
The elevators could be stopped without an emergency alarm sounding and could be restarted from inside the elevator. This made it rather easy to have sex in the elevators or do drugs that required lengthy preparation. When a minor epidemic of teenage heroin use spread across North Dallas, it became hip to shoot up in the elevators and squirt your leftover blood on the walls.
An outdoor stairwell by Mervyn’s was elevated close enough to the roof to allow anyone to climb onto it. This was yet another place to do drugs and have sex, even after hours when the mall was closed.”
I’ve actually been to that place by accident…But let’s be real, are those the kind of kids that would go to NorthPark? Growing up, I didn’t go to certain malls because of their reputation. And sure, I hung out there – we can cite Mallrats if we want – but I definitely purchased there too.
And trust me, I understand the policy – I just think it will bite them in the long run.
I’d like to add that as a parent, I’m not expecting the mall to babysit my teen, but it’s a priviledge for her that she earns (just like her phone) to go do some shopping on her own with friends without having to hang around her parents. A luxury that doesn’t happen too often. I don’t expect all parents to think the way my husband and I do and I’m sure a lot of people look at the mall as a way to get rid of their teens.
Bill: As a journalist, I take photos in malls occasionally, usually because I intend to write about those malls. No photo; no story. I had a PR guy tell me once, “We don’t allow photos of our mall to be published,” and I reminded him that the Constitution addresses that issue. Same with a Dallas hotel that told me only its handout photos could be published. They can ask you to leave, but that’s all they can do.
beccalyn,
Since you’ve never been to NorthPark, either during the day or at night, you shouldn’t judge the mall’s decision. I’m thrilled with it, although my children may not be as happy as I am. I agree with others who say that the mall may selectively enforce the policy.
@becca mia culpa. You should visit NPC sometime, however. It’s an actual place of architectural significance (AIA’s design of the decade for the 1960′s), and filled with amazing art. The man who built NP also built the Nasher Sculpture Center.
beccalyn,
Much of this narrative has gone unstated: There is a purported plague of “gangbangers.” To what extent it’s true or to what extent upper-middle-class/wealthy white people think seeing black people is a blight on their unsullied vanilla existence, I myself cannot say. I go to NP every couple of months and have never felt threatened or even offended, although I have seen many well-behaved black youths — most of them toting shopping bags. This makes me suspect the latter. But on the other hand, some real ugliness has gone down. Follow the first link in the blockquote, for starters.
P.S. It’s worth noting that the horrible linked-to incident took place on NorthPark property only peripherally.
Sounds great @towski…I’ll have to go on my own though. The husband never wants to and it’s pretty much the last mall around here that I haven’t been to see.
You’d think being from Chicago I’d appreciate art and architecture.
As vanilla existences go (like all existences), unsullied is better than sullied.
@Daniel – I remember the story. And yes, it did happen in the surrounding parking lot. And of course, who can forget the shooting that happened in the mall in Nebraska for that matter either (though I don’t believe it was a teen).
Bottom line is that I sincerely doubt the “gangbangers” that we fear are roaming our nice high priced malls. Some posers or teens that are up to no good, most likely.
As a person who shops there regularly and has witnessed the decline over the past year, I would bet that NP is probably not worried about the “lost money” from booting these teenagers. It’s not the teenagers spending money that are the problem, it’s those that are there to strictly hang out at the mall/food court all day with friends…this is loitering. Sure, it’s a great place to walk around, Mr. Nasher helped to create quite a unique and beautiful mall, but the idea is that people walk around AND make purchases. NP is a place of business, simple as that.
I notice groups of kids, hollering in the food court, hollering across the square towards the AMC Theater, 12 and 13-year-old girls that are way too scantily clad to have left the house and talking to “boys” much older than they – and not a single shopping bag among them. I witness all of this and I wonder, “Where are the parents?” I shop, I take in a movie, I come out of the movie and the same kids are still whooping it up in the food court, making sure to draw all sorts of attention to themselves in front of their peers. It’s a big show to these kids, and the whole mall is their audience. No thank you, I’d rather shop in peace.
The reality is that ANYONE should respect themselves enough, and respect others when in public, to dress appropriately & act accordingly. It’s a basic human respect for oneself and others. And if a person was NOT taught this, then it is up to another to teach it or set prescedence. NorthPark is having to be that other person…they’re having to police, (literally), the children of others. Sadly this also affects other teenagers that are not guilty of loitering, and it is unfair, but what can you do?
However, I do think the age limit should come down to 15 from 17. If you’re old enough to drive yourself to the mall or the movies, then you should be able to walk the mall without adult supervision.
Overall, I think I’m happy about this new policy, although I think 6 PM is ridiculously early; I think they should have made it 8:00. I feel badly for my 8th-grade daughter, though…she and her friends always enjoyed having dinner in the food court before a movie or a snack afterward and this new curfew will seriously impact their ability to do so. That being said, this probably isn’t a bad thing. There are always tons of kids smoking, making out and getting high in the inner courtyard at NP (by LaDuni) and I worry about all the criminal activity in the parking garages. It will be really interesting to see how strictly it’s enforced and if the revenues of other nearby shopping areas with theaters (like HP and Inwood Village) go up as a result.
RAB,
Damn! Why couldn’t you have told me that in 1984!
When does that new Spencer’s Gifts – over by Neimans & Williams Sonoma – open for business?
I’m honestly not surprised by what’s happening in and around Northpark. I ride the DART red line train many days of the week and if there are any guys on there that look like gangbangers, chances are they’ll get off at the Park Lane stop. I’ve often though that one substantial downside to a mass transit system is that it affords enhanced mobility to an element of society that you may not want to have nearby. If the kid referenced by the chain email was beaten by a group of kids from south Dallas, this wouldn’t be the first time people from the worst parts of town boarded those trains with the intent of hurting or killing someone in a more affluent area. I’m just glad to live in a city not served directly by DART. I’ll gladly drive to the train station each day when the trade-off is keeping that garbage from taking a train or bus to my town.
A lot of the incidents at Northpark boil down to ONE kid…he starts (via Facebook) “challenges” to fight at the mall…and like lemmings, the other boys take the bait. Not kidding about this, it’s been escalating for several months.
beccalyn, You do not know why this is the best policy ever, cause you never been to North Park mall on Friday and Saturday evening. The reason for this policy is because for the past few years the image of North Park has been ruin due to teenager from the hood going to North Park and wreaking havoc by fighting and selling drug on the property. If you would like your teen daughter to be one of the victim at this mall, please do drop her off there, because one of the gang banger will gladly pick her up and do things to her you wouldn’t begin to think of. As far as teen consumer generating money at North Park that is a “NO” due to the fact that these gang banger are scaring away the teen consumer that do have the buying power. If the gang banger do see a teen consumer buy some thing the gang banger likes, they would gladly beat them in the parking lot and robbed the item from them. North Park is North Hell right now, and if this policy can be enforced it will not only save the mall’s image, it will also save their business. The gang banger teenager are causing them a lot of lost in profit, and I mean AAAAAAAAAAAAAALOOOOOOOOOOOTT! So might as well just enforce the policy on all teenager under 17 year of age. Remember they just have to be accompanied by an guardian, so it’s not too bad.
The worst thing to be in the World — aside from a resident of the Sudan — must be an American teen.